Gay Tipping Outrage: Couple Calls It Hoax

Restaurants can be soul-killing demi-purgatories of slights and insults for wait staff. They keep up a chipper demeanor because doing otherwise would mean sacrificing the bulk of their tip income and possibly even losing their jobs. But there are times that an outrage is so complete as to demand a response. At least, that is what Dayna Morales, an ex-Marine waitress at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, N.J., claimed when she said that some patrons had stiffed her and blamed the action on not agreeing with her gay "lifestyle," according to the Huffington Post.

The story brought international attention -- and at least $2000 in donations from people outraged by the action, according to CNN. But there's a new twist in the story: A couple claiming to be the ones in question told WNBC that they did tip the server and didn't leave a note. They reportedly produced credit card records that allegedly verified their side of the story.

Morales originally posted her story and an image of the credit card receipt on the Facebook page "Have A Gay Day."

The note says "sorry I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle & the way you live your life"

NEVER in a million years did I think this would happen. Not only was it a family with two kids, but as I introduce myself and tell them my name is Dayna - the mom proceeds to look at me and say "oh I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan. You sure surprised us!"

I am THOROUGHLY offended mad pissed off and hurt that THIS is what her kids will grow up learning and that I served in the Marines to keep ignorant people like them free. Sorry lady but I don't agree with YOUR lifestyle and the way you're raising your kids but you didn't see me throwing that in your face and giving you shitty service. Keep your damn mouth shut and pray we never cross paths again.

Flickr/Dayna Morales

Perhaps public sentiment had already been stirred because of a seemingly similar anti-gay Kansas restaurant incident in October, as Huffington Post reported. Those customers allegedly wrote:

Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to GOD. Queers do not share in the wealth of GOD, and you will not share in ours.

But then a family, claiming to be the one in question, contacted WNBC. They claimed they had left an $18 tip on the bill of $93.55.
They produced what they claimed was their copy of the original receipt, although it was not a carbon showing exactly what they had written on the restaurant's copy, and a Visa statement showing a total of $111.55, which would be the bill total and the tip.
WNBC
The wife said she had signed the slip but was left-handed and could not have made the slash across the tip line and that both she and her husband support gay rights. She explained the "Dan" remark as their joking reaction because they said they had asked for a server named Dan and were surprised when someone else helped them.

"I just felt like people have a right to know that -- it's fine if people want to donate to her or to the Wounded Warriors, but they're doing it under a false pretense," said the wife.

Morales told WNBC that the note on the slip was not in her handwriting and that she was sure she had not been left a tip.

The restaurant said that it will undertake an internal investigation into the matter.